Group Urges Passage of Bill When Assembly Members Return to Albany Next Week

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Council Speaker Christine C.
Quinn, State and City elected officials, environmentalists, environmental
justice advocates and labor leaders today called on the State Assembly to pass
legislation authorizing the construction and operation of a marine transfer
station (MTS) to handle recyclable paper, metal, glass and plastic at Pier 52 on
the Gansevoort Peninsula in Manhattan. The Gansevoort MTS is a critical
component of the landmark Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) adopted by the City
Council in July 2006 and approved by the State Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) in October 2006. Once operational, the Gansevoort MTS will
handle recyclable metal, glass, plastic and paper generated in Manhattan that is
currently trucked to facilities in the Bronx, Brooklyn and New Jersey. In
addition, the new facility will free-up capacity at an existing transfer station
at West 59th Street on the Hudson River to handle Manhattan's construction and
demolition debris under a proposal to be negotiated. The Gansevoort MTS will
help to achieve one of the most important goals of the SWMP: ensuring that each
borough has the capacity to handle its own waste and recyclables. Building the
facility requires an amendment to the Hudson River Park Act, which was passed by
the State Senate 53-8 on June 18, and must be passed by the State Assembly and
signed into law.

At the announcement the Mayor was joined by members of
the City Council including: Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; Sanitation and
Solid Waste Management Committee Chair Michael E. McMahon; Council Members Rosie
Mendez, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Inez Dickens, Miguel Martinez, Larry B. Seabrook,
James Vacca, Hiram Monserrate, Maria Del Carmen Arroyo, David Yassky, Robert
Jackson, Leroy Comrie, Diana Reyna, Al Vann and Mathieu Eugene.

The Mayor was also joined by: Brooklyn Borough President
Marty Markowitz; Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro; Assembly
Member Adriano Espaillat, the sponsor of the legislation in the Assembly;
Assembly Members William Boyland, Jr., Ruben Diaz, Jr., Karim Camara, Adam
Clayton Powell, Jr., William Scarborough and Carl Heastie; Central Labor Council
Executive Director Ed Ott; Director of Industry Advancement for the
International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B Joseph Conway; Political
Director of the New York City District Council of Carpenters Steve McInnis;
Mason Tenders' District Council PAC Director Mike McGuire; and Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty.

"Next week the State Legislature will reconvene in
Albany, and we are asking the State Assembly to remove the last major obstacle
to implementing our Solid Waste Management Plan," said Mayor Bloomberg. "The
alternative locations proposed by opponents are unworkable and prohibitively
expensive. Those red herring suggestions need to be put aside so this amendment
to the Hudson River Park Act can be passed."

"It's been over a year since the Council adopted the
Solid Waste Management Plan, and we're still waiting for the State Legislature
to allow us to move forward with one of its key components," said Speaker Quinn.
"This recycling transfer facility will allow my district to do our part for this
equitable and environmentally responsible plan, reducing truck traffic by 30,000
miles each year while providing educational space to our community. As the State
Legislature returns to session, I join the Mayor in urging them to pass this
important amendment."

"The Gansevoort Recycling Facility is a critical piece of
our 20-year Solid Waste Management Plan and without it many parts of the City
will continue to suffer the burden of heavy truck traffic and environmental
injustice," said Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committee Chair Michael
E. McMahon.

Once the Gansevoort facility is operational, Department
of Sanitation (DSNY) trucks will deliver Manhattan's recyclable metal, glass,
and plastic there, resulting 30,000 fewer miles traveled on roadways every year.
The new facility would also receive Manhattan's recyclable paper that is
currently shipped out of the Marine Transfer Station on West 59th Street in
Manhattan, freeing up that facility to receive Manhattan's construction and
demolition debris - currently being trucked to the Bronx and Brooklyn. If the
amendment does not pass and the Gansevoort facility is not built, the Solid
Waste Management Plan's requirement that every borough participate in handling
its own waste in a substantial way will not be realized.

The new Gansevoort MTS will be a model green building
that will replace an existing transfer station that served Manhattan from the
1950s through the early 1990s. The facility will serve as a transfer point for
Manhattan's recyclables and will host an environmental education center that
will be a destination for users of Hudson River Park. The environmental center
will house a classroom that could provide much-needed indoor space for community
uses, as well as a viewing platform and educational panels that will describe
the importance of recycling, alternative modes of transportation and the history
and ecology of New York harbor.

"I am in strong support of passing the Gansevoort
legislation that will reopen the transfer station on Manhattan's Gansevoort
Peninsula," said Congressman Charles Rangel. "This legislation is good for the
City of New York since it will reduce the transportation of debris and pollution
from trucks. Our community will benefit from better air quality which will
reduce cases of asthma. Overall, this legislation will make the city as a whole
a more livable place."

"It is unacceptable that a few low-income, working class
communities of color in Brooklyn, Queens, East Harlem, and the Bronx are
disproportionately burdened with our City's trash and recyclables," said
Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez. "By operating a marine transfer station at
Gansevoort pier we will reduce diesel traffic, improve air quality, and ensure
that waste management is distributed more fairly."

"I am pleased to see the Mayor hold steadfast to
principles of borough equity and fairness as he continues to roll out the new
Solid Waste Management Plan," said Congressman José E. Serrano. "The reopening
of Gansevoort will trigger a windfall of environmental benefits for all New
Yorkers and especially for my South Bronx constituents. It is time Albany
allowed the plan to move forward."

"I support the plan to locate a sanitation recycling
station on the Gansevoort Pier in Manhattan," said Bronx Borough President
Adolfo Carrion. "For too long, some boroughs have been burdened more than others
with an imbalance in the distribution, recycling and disposal of the City's
waste. A recycling transfer station in Manhattan will address the need to
equitably distribute solid waste responsibility to all boroughs."

"New York City's Solid Waste Management Plan, an inspired
partnership between the environmental justice community and the visionary
Bloomberg administration and other public officials - must now be fast-tracked
in Albany so our neighborhoods and families finally get the respect they
deserve," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. "For Brooklyn, which
for years has shouldered more than our fair share of the City's garbage transfer
infrastructure, there is not a moment to waste!"

"I fully support the Solid Waste Management Plan and will
work with Mayor Bloomberg and the coalition to transform it into reality," said
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. "As a member of the Environmental
Committee in the City Council, I was a steadfast supporter of marine transfer
stations and voted accordingly. Today, I still believe marine transfer is the
way to go. Queens will do its part to address the problem of solid waste removal
with my continuing support for the College Point marine transfer station."

"I encourage the Legislature to approve the construction
of the Gansevoort Marine Transfer Station," said Staten Island Borough President
James P. Molinaro. "This station will eliminate thousands of truck trips each
year. As a result, a significant source of air pollution will be removed from
our City."

"It is about time that every borough handled its own
waste," said Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat, the sponsor of the legislation.
"The Gansevoort Marine Transfer Station is the last crucial step in completing
the equitable goal of the Solid Waste Management Plan and I implore the Assembly
to take up this issue as soon as possible."

"It's about time all New Yorkers take on their fair share
of the City's solid waste," said Assembly Member Ruben Diaz, Jr. "As a Bronxite,
I think the 1.4 million residents of the Bronx have been doing that and more. I
encourage my colleagues in the legislature to vote to change that next
week."

"A key component to handling New York City's solid waste
is attending to the thousands of tons of recyclables that are separated from the
regular trash each day," said Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty. "The
Gansevoort MTS would provide the borough of Manhattan with an environmentally
attractive depot and educational center from which to barge valuable metal,
plastic, glass and paper products to processing plants for recycling."

"We join Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and our
environmental colleagues in urging the Assembly to allow the city to advance the
Gansevoort recycling facility," said Eric A. Goldstein, Senior Attorney with the
Natural Resources Defense Council. "The use of a small portion of the Gansevoort
peninsula for a state-of-the-art recycling station is not inconsistent with the
use of the vast bulk of that peninsula for new parkland. And moving ahead with
the Gansevoort recycling station is necessary to insure that responsibility for
the handling the city's 12,500 tons a day of municipal trash is fairly shared by
all five boroughs."

"The development of a state-of-the-art recycling facility
on the Gansevoort Pier is the final piece of a plan that will protect the
environment, support economic development and improve public health throughout
New York City," said New York League of Conservation Voters Executive Director
Marcia Bystryn. "We join many community and environmental organizations today in
calling on the Assembly to allow this facility to be built, and to relieve a
burden that has unfairly affected working-class neighborhoods and communities of
color for too long."

"The Gansevoort Recycling and Educational Center is key
to achieve the goals of cleaner air and environmental justice," said Ramon Cruz,
Senior Policy Analyst at Environmental Defense. "The planned state-of-the art
facility would take dirty diesel trucks out of the neighborhoods that are
overburdened from our current solid waste system. The City has put forward an
environmentally responsible design that can coexist with our parks and become a
model for urban waterfronts around the world."

"The SWMP represents a necessary and historic step
towards making environmental justice a reality in the City of New York," said
Elizabeth Yeampierre, Board Chair of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. "It
is the least we can do for the children in New York City's most environmentally
over-burdened communities."

"The New York City labor movement is strongly in favor of
the reactivation of the Gansevoort Marine Transfer Station project because we
want to be able to stand behind what we build while providing green jobs," said
Ed Ott, Executive Director of the New York City Central Labor Council. "I want
to thank Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn for allowing me the opportunity to
speak here in support of the Gansevoort Martine Transfer Station project and the
new opportunities in jobs and economic development it will bring to the great
borough of Manhattan."

"Fair is fair," said Steve McInnis, Political Director of
the New York City District Council of Carpenters. "We realize the importance of
protecting every community as our union has members living in every borough in
the City. With the Solid Waste Management Plan, the Mayor and the City Council
have done the right thing."

"We commend the Mayor and the Speaker on the siting of
this transfer station," said Mason Tenders' District Council PAC Director Mike
McGuire. "For too long, the burden of such facilities has been
disproportionately put upon our poorer communities and communities of color. We
look forward to working with our leaders in city government to build this
state-of-the-art facility right here on Gansevoort Street."

The Solid Waste Management Plan establishes a
cost-effective, reliable and environmentally sound system for managing the
City's waste for the next 20 years. Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler is overseeing the
implementation of the SWMP through a working group that includes DSNY, the
Economic Development Corporation, the Department of
Citywide Administrative Services, the Office of
Management and Budget, the Law Department and
the Parks Department
. In August, the Mayor announced that all Bronx residential and
municipal waste - approximately 2,100 tons per day - is being exported for final
disposal by rail, rather than by truck. In May, Staten Island became the first
borough to have household waste exported by rail rather than truck after Mayor
Bloomberg reactivated the Staten Island Railroad. Staten Island exports 950 tons
per day of household waste using the new rail link.